


Keep Your Eye on the Ball

by CaliforniaQueen



Series: Totally MFEO [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bad Food Good Company, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, It's really just fluff, The Tiny Baby Chicken and Her Bull In a China Shop Play Skee Ball, They Needed A Sequel, They love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26499997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaliforniaQueen/pseuds/CaliforniaQueen
Summary: Ben said he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. So Rey takes him to Chuck E. Cheese's. Cheap pizza, animatronics, and arcade games. What could go wrong?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Totally MFEO [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926586
Comments: 20
Kudos: 82





	Keep Your Eye on the Ball

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel to "When Love is Like Pulling Teeth." Go read that first! ;)

She lifts it and tests its weight—light, but solid and smooth. She’s never done this before, but he is supportive and encouraging, wrapping his hand around hers to show her the proper form for maximum reward. He guides her hand in a rhythmic motion back and forth until the ultimate release. 

“This is harder than I thought it would be,” she grunts irritably. Her face is a study in intense concentration. 

“It just takes practice. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. This is your first time. You have to be patient and go slow to start. Make sure you follow through and aim where you want it to go.”

She feels his arm snake around her, grasping her hip and holding her to him as he moves. Gasping at the warmth of his body against hers, she involuntarily reacts, thrusting back against him in a way that causes him to choke out a strangled groan. 

His arm flails wildly, hand still wrapped around hers, and he releases with such unexpected ferocity that the skee ball flies forward, bouncing off the scoreboard with a thunderclap. It careens toward her in painfully slow motion and makes contact with her face, knocking her backward. Stumbling over the toddler next to her, Rey lands hard on her backside, legs and arms splayed like a disgruntled starfish as Ben Solo looks down at her in horror. 

**_One Hour Earlier_ **

“Are you sure this is where you want our first date to be? It’s not exactly high-quality food.” Ben smirks as he pulls his car into the parking lot of the strip mall. A flotilla of beige businesses grouped together in a sea of asphalt is dwarfed by the obvious centerpiece looming before them. The bright, neon sign with the giant cartoon rat in a purple baseball cap elicits a giggle from Rey.

“You said you wanted to play skee ball. So we’re playing skee ball. Our first date will be memorable if nothing else.” She winks as the tips of Ben’s ears go pink, remembering his declaration—one of many under the influence of general anesthesia—that he wanted to go play skee ball at Chuck E. Cheese’s. 

“You’re never going to let me forget that are you?” Ben asks sheepishly. His speech was still affected by the swelling of his procedure from the day before, and his jaw was still peppered with bruises that Rey leaned over to kiss gently. He had yet to kiss her the way he truly wanted and looked forward to the simple pleasure of making out with his new girlfriend. 

“Never. I want to remember everything you said to me yesterday.” Her eyes soften at the memory, and Ben knew she was as happy as he was at the unexpected outcome of such an unusual afternoon. 

His wisdom teeth extraction was something he never thought would finally bring him and Rey together, but he thanks his lucky stars, and Dr. Poe Dameron, D.D.S., that it did. 

“I can’t believe you’ve never been to a place like this before,” Ben says, taking her hand and leading her to the entrance. “My parents took me here for every birthday. They weren’t exactly creative and it was always last minute. But it grew on me”

“I, um, never had a birthday party anywhere. Growing up, it was kind of not important. I didn’t know the date until I was much older. Now I don't even celebrate.”

Rey tenses up at the look in Ben’s eyes. 

_ It’s no big deal. I don’t need your pity. _

She can feel herself going into defensive mode, expecting a comment about how sad her life must have been. Instead, he surprises her with a smile.

“We’ll have to have a big one for you this year.”

She flushes with pleasure and follows him into the restaurant, her hand engulfed in his and her other clutched in a hug around his bicep. Rey loves him so much that at this moment she can’t help but tell him. When she does he smiles at her, leaning down to whisper in her ear. 

“I love you too, angel.”

* * *

He’s right, of course, the food is sub-par—chewy dough, cheese that sort of maybe gives the lingering essence that it was actually made with natural ingredients, and sauce that is almost an afterthought make it the driest pizza Rey has ever had. The soda is just an inch away from being flat, more like syrupy water with a hint of fizz. 

None of it matters to Rey. 

Here, with Ben in this ridiculous place, watching an animatronic rat sing to a nearly empty dining room, she could be in a five-star restaurant in New York City and she wouldn’t know the difference. She knows he’s the reason for that. 

Rey thinks about her math classes in high school—learning about commutative properties in multiplication. No matter where you place the factors, the product is always the same. It’s that way with Ben. No matter where they are in the world, no matter what they do, whatever problem she’ll face from now on, he will be the answer. 

He reaches out and grabs her hand across the table and smiles at her. This shy, seemingly grumpy man is nothing but infatuated smiles and laughter. She can’t believe how wrong she was about him. 

“How’s your lunch?” he asks, eyebrows raised in amusement. She looks down at her plate, a half-eaten slice resting in its grease. She has heartburn just from the one and a half slices she’s eaten. 

“Not bad,” she answers, not wanting to disappoint him. 

“You liar,” he laughs. “It’s gross and you know it. I’m surprised you made it that far.”

“I’m gonna need an antacid,” she admits sheepishly. 

“I warned you”

“Is this where I’m supposed to agree and say you were right?”

“Might as well start this relationship off on the right foot,” he teases, sliding away to avoid her fist making contact with his arm. “Come on, let’s play.”

Wiping their hands, they get up and make their way to the arcade, sidestepping the few children running amok while their mothers gossip at their table. Rey hears the kids talking about their lofty goals of earning enough tickets for the prizes featured by the ticket redemption counter. She imagines it would be much cheaper for their mothers to just go to a dollar store and buy them the candy, plastic whistles, and inflatable beach balls on display, but she assumes it’s the thrill of earning the prize that keeps them going. 

Rey can relate. 

She’s had to earn everything the hard way. 

Smiling fondly at the children, she follows Ben across the arcade, stopping to watch as he points out the different games to earn tickets. She tries a few, and he teases her when she jumps up and down after earning five tickets for spinning a tiny wheel. 

“Ok, but you get more bang for your buck over here,” Ben encourages as he drags her to the skee ball machines lined in a row. There are three of them, she sees. None of them match, unless you count the disrepair, chipped paint, and burned out lightbulbs lining the sides.  She chooses the one in the middle, flanked on one side by a lone teenager who looks out of place (Rey giggles at the idea that the child might have had a dentist appointment and that’s why he isn’t in school) and on the other side by a mother trying valiantly to keep her toddler from climbing up inside the rig. Rey gestures at the machine and looks up at Ben. 

“You first,” she says. “I want to watch your form.”

Ben barks out a laugh, and Rey grins in response. She watches him slip worn tokens into the machine and sees the balls slide down the opening. She’s thoroughly entertained and mesmerized as Ben slides each ball up the ramp and into the highest scoring holes every time. Tickets whoosh out of the machine at a rapid pace and she finally understands the children noisily accosting the underpaid clerk at the ticket redemption. 

_ I will not get excited over Necco Wafers and parachuting army men. I will not.  _

“Ready?” he asks, handing her a ball. She hadn’t noticed him feeding more coins into the game, fascinated as she was with all the tickets it was spitting out. Ben was really good at this. 

“You’ll help me, right? Don’t let me look dumb.”

“Of course. You won’t look dumb. Here, hold it like this.”

Warmth bloomed in her chest as he moved close and wrapped her hand in his. 

* * *

“I’m okay. I’m fine,” Rey chokes out, trying not to cry as she sits cross-legged on the seizure-inducing galactic carpeting with her hands covering her left eye. 

“Shit, Rey. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Ben frantically tries to pull her hands from her face. Rey whimpers in response like a wounded animal. She knows what happened and she’s mortified. She could feel it with her ass as soon as she accidentally backed into him. She feels hot and excited, and equally uncomfortable and embarrassed. 

_ Way to fuck shit up, Rey.  _

“Let me get you some ice. Hang on.” She watches from her unobscured eye as he rushes to the soda machine, stops, and then turns to the counter, speaking to the young server who is clearly amused by all the drama. She nods and goes into the kitchen, coming back with a towel that Ben proceeds to fill with ice. He brings it back to Rey and kneels in front of her. 

“Move your hands.”

“No,” she whines.

“Don’t be a baby. Let me see.” He gently pulls her hands away from her face, and she can see the dismay and guilt in his features as he inspects her. 

“Is it bad?” she asks.

“You’re gonna have a shiner. Here put this on it,” he says, handing her the towel of ice. “I am so sorry. I fucking ruin everything like bull in a china shop.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, Ben,” she reassures him. “It’s not the first time I’ve had a black eye. I’ll live. Besides,” she says, a wicked gleam in the one eye that can actually open, “now we match.” She runs her fingers over his bruised jaw and he turns to kiss her fingertips. Her hand tingles deliciously at his touch. 

“You’re too good for me.”

“Fuck that. We’re just right for each other, I say. Come on. I told you this was going to be memorable. Let’s make sure of it.” She stands up and holds out her hand, waiting for him to take it. When he does, she gives a half-hearted tug. 

“You realize this was symbolic, right? There’s literally no way I can help you up—especially one-handed.”

Ben laughs at the absurdity of it all and hoists himself up, following Rey’s lead to the photo booth at the far side of the arcade. 

“Get in,” she orders, and he can feel himself getting anxious as he does what he’s told. There’s not a lot of room in the booth and if she sits on his lap-

“Now, you know where I’m going so I expect you to behave. This is a family establishment.”

Ben’s eyes go as wide as saucers before he bursts out laughing, the tension of her close proximity fading a little. She eases herself into his lap and feeds a five-dollar bill into the payment slot. 

“Ready?”

“Yep.”

The flashes come in rapid succession and Rey makes the most of their time by hamming it up for the camera. She kisses Ben’s cheek in the first frame, pretends to punch his face to explain the bruised jaw in the second, and holds the ice pack over her eye with a comical frown in the third. They are the most ridiculous pictures she has ever taken. 

She can’t wait to frame them and put them on the wall. 

* * *

Rey excuses herself to go to the bathroom as they’re getting ready to leave and Ben uses the time to his advantage. Grabbing the string of prize tickets they’ve accumulated, he hurries over to the prize counter and hands them to the clerk. The ticket counting machine eats the fruits of Ben’s labor with a succession of frenzied clicks and spits out a paper receipt. 

“One hundred seventy-three,” says the bored clerk, leaning against the counter and inspecting her manicure. Ben scans the array of toys and treats until his eyes fall on it.

He points to it and grins. “That one, right there.”

When Rey comes out of the ladies' room she sees Ben by the prize counter and saunters over, giving him a questioning look in response to his smirk. 

“What are you up to?”

“I got you a present.”

“Oh really? Let’s see.” 

“Close your eyes,” he commands. 

She holds out her hands, eyes closed, biting her lip in anticipation. She feels something soft and fluffy placed into her palm.

“Okay, open them.”

When she looks down at what he’s put in her hands she wants to laugh and cry and kiss and hug him all at once. But she only stares. In her hand is a fluffy stuffed toy—a replica of a tiny baby chicken. She shakes her head and chuckles at his humor and looks into his loving eyes. She will most definitely remember their first date for the rest of her life. 

“Well, what do you think?” he asks. 

“It’s perfect.”


End file.
